Almost every inventor dreams of some day taking their product on air at QVC. They envision themselves on national television standing next to a QVC host presenting their product to millions of QVC viewers, some of who are anxious to buy. Exciting stuff!
For the right product, QVC can be a great venue to quickly reach a large buying audience. I know from personal experience, I was on QVC for two years with Savvy Caddy wallets.
But a key question: is your product right for QVC – does it have the potential to succeed on QVC?
I’ll explore that question in this blog from several angles. First and foremost, I recommend that you spend some time on QVC.com. Here is a link to QVC.com that gives you much more information and details than I can cover in this short blog.
Now for a disclaimer – everything I say hereafter is based upon my experience on QVC and does not represent the views of QVC.
Is your product right for QVC? Here are key elements of a good QVC product, see if your product fits:
1. Does it fit one of the categories that QVC sells? – see QVC link above for details
2. Does it have a WOW factor?
3. Can it be easily demonstrated where viewers immediately “get it”?
4. Is the retail price $20 or more?
5. Do you have solid profit margin to sell it at an attractive wholesale price?
I worked with many inventor clients who wanted to be on QVC with their product. I only remember recommending two of them to my QVC agent for further consideration. Why? Their products did not meet some (or all) of the above criteria.
Most amazing to me was the fact that many inventors never take the first simple step of going to QVC.com and doing a bit of research to see if their product matches a QVC category. Do this first and you may quickly find that your product is not a QVC product.
WOW factor is very important. Simply put, a WOW factor is typically a demonstration that makes viewers say to themselves “WOW”! A product doesn’t absolutely require a WOW factor but chances of strong sales on air are much greater if it has the WOW factor.
Products that can be easily demonstrated (preferably with multiple demos) are crucial to QVC success. This is because loyal QVC viewers think of the host as a trusted friend coming into their living room – whereas they don’t know who you are or care (unless you are a celebrity). Your job is to describe key features of your product and demo them quickly and effectively. Demos sell – narratives about you don't.
Why should your retail price be $20 or more? QVC typically adds shipping charges to most items that they sell – often $3 or $4 for shipping. Viewers don’t mind shipping charges, but adding $4 shipping to a $10 retail item seems unreasonable (adds 40% to the cost), but is not an issue for a $20-$25 item.
Lastly, profit margin is extremely important for your product. You need a 4X to 5X mark up from manufacturing cost to retail for solid profit.
Perhaps you have an item that sells at $25 – $30 retail and your manufacturing cost is $5. QVC may offer it for $27 to viewers and purchase it from you at a $12 wholesale price (prices are for illustration only). That would give them good margins ($15 for each item) and you would have a profit of $7 per each, allowing you to reorder and still have a small margin ($2) above that. One of the greatest tragedies is a product that sells fantastically on QVC, but the vendor’s wholesale profit margin is so slim that he or she barely makes any money at all.
Next post is – How to Prepare for QVC
Stay tuned!
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